The Dark
by Frosted Landscapes
Summary: Five instances where Zuko runs into the dark.


He'd never liked the dark. It was cold, it was frightening and it was terrible. So every time he finds that he is about to enter a particularly dark room, his bones will curl and he will shiver slightly. Curling bones, it was a strange term, he knew, but still he liked the sound of it. It was his and Katara's little secret. Curling bones meant cold feet, nervousness and puddles of anxiety.

Katara was his best friend, the cook's daughter and he loved playing with her. But there was a down side to their games and play, she loved the darkness and he hated it. She would send him to hide while she sought and more often than not, his hiding place would be in the shadows. There is something good about the dark, he understood this from the first time they played hide and seek.

It always concealed him so much better and he liked that; although he still disliked the dark. It scared him and he resented it. It's not that it was bad; he knew that, but there was something sinister about it and he just hated it. Tonight, as the moon shines high up in the sky, he sits in the corner of the broom closet, waiting for that special someone to find him.

o0o0o0o

He liked to sleep with the candles lit. It wasn't the norm for fifteen year old boys; he knew but Zuko found that he is still afraid of the dark. He was a different person now, ever since his mother left, Zuko had become a more independent person, a better person with a more open mind. He learned how much people could love you and how some others could hate you even more.

He touched his hand to his scar softly and feels the marred flesh. There was something so angry about the blemish that made him want to flinch. It was an ugly, hideous scar and he resented it. It was his shame and that was all the mattered. He was on a journey, a journey of finding the Avatar. There was nothing he wanted more than finding the old man.

His father had sent him on his quest just two years before and demanded that he find the Avatar. Of course, as a scared thirteen year old, he couldn't say no. And so two years later, he finds himself on a ship in the middle of the vast ocean at night, alone, in his brightly lit room, trying to fall asleep. His room was brightly lit and that was all the mattered. Light gave him comfort, peace and so much calm and he liked that.

There was a soft knock on the door and Zuko moved to answer it.

It is his faithful best friend, who is smiling up at him, her eyes as blue as the sea, her lips curled up at the sides. It is a cold, dark rainy night and she knows how much he hated such nights and so he smiles back at her as he allows her into the bedroom with him. He moved to lie back down on the bed as she curled at his side and held his hands around her. He liked this; he decides as he take a leap of faith and extinguishes the flames, allowing them both to plunge into the darkness.

o0o0o0o

Tonight is his wedding night. Zuko finds his bones curling, his lips trembling just that slight little bit as he waits for his bride to prepare herself for the night. She is in the bathroom, washing her beautiful body. He wasn't supposed to know how she looked like underneath her clothing and he didn't know for sure but then there was something about the fabric of her clothing that allowed the light to shine in such a way that it exaggerated her curves and made her all the more attractive.

Zuko swallows hard as he waits patiently for his Katara. She would be some time, he knew because she always made him hold up the cloth to cover her naked body whilst she bathed in the servants' quarters where there weren't any doors to the showers. He'd never looked at her bare body even though there were times he was tempted to.

To distract himself, he began thinking about their journey, about how they both found the Avatar in the block of ice, how they had captured him, how the Avatar wasn't at all old, how he had taught them right from wrong and how in the end, they had chosen to fight with the Avatar and not against him. Zuko smiles fondly at the memory, the Avatar was just like the brother he never had.

She finally emerges from the bathroom, her body, covered in her towel, glimmering under the light. Zuko swallows again as she approaches the bed and sits across from him. Gently, Katara pulls Zuko's hand into her own and places his hand on her breast. Zuko can hear his breath catch just a little then her lips are on his and they are on top of each other. And then she isn't wearing a towel anymore.

And just then, the lights go off, and they are left in the darkness.

o0o0o0o

He remembers their little secret term; curling bones.

He felt exactly that, now; his bones curled as he stepped closer to the edge of the wall and that is when he sees them, his wife, Katara and the Avatar, holding each other, her hand on his chest and his lips on her forehead. This was their little secret, he was meant to be kept in the dark. And then suddenly Zuko remembers why he always hated the cold blackness.

He shivered slightly as he covered his mouth and screamed into his open palm. No sound was heard even as he yelled out in anguish because he could not find his voice through the hurt and anger that flooded him. He wanted so much to jump into the picture and break the Avatar's neck, but there was no point in that because he had already lost Katara.

That night, Zuko enters his daughter's bedroom and placed a soft kiss on his child's cheek as she slept and extinguished he the flames in her bedroom. And then he sat in the darkness as he watched her sleep and himself get swallowed whole by the broken shadows.

o0o0o0o

He closes his eyes as he counts to sixty and then turns around slowly and poises himself for the hunt.

Hide and seek; it was his favourite game since his childhood, once upon a time and that is why he has decided to play this game with his six beautiful grandchildren. His life has the same number of years as a minute has seconds. And he sometimes hates the way his bones creak and his cough chime in while he is addressing issues of the court.

He knows all the palaces best hiding places and that is why he is here now. The broom closet, his favourite place and it is dark, so very dark and still he finds himself slightly afraid. He laughs at himself internally. How awkward it would be if he were to be discovered still so afraid of the dark? And then he pops his head into the dark closet and lights a finger.

Just like clockwork, his Kimi, his youngest granddaughter is curled up in the corner and at the sight of her grandfather; the waterbender sighs and hangs her head in exasperation. She was always the first to be found and quite frankly, Zuko found it hilarious.

"Come and see! This is Gramps," Zuko hears the sweet voice of his oldest and then he turns around; sure he's caught the little imp. He is in the right mind to tweak her nose and spin her around in circles. But then there she is, old, haggard and beautiful; his Katara.

"It's been a long time Zuko," she says softly and he nods at her, a small smile playing on his features. She'd left him for the Avatar and now she is back. Zuko narrows his eyes and then closes them, because finally, the darkness is less frightening then the light.

o0o0o0o

**A/N: I actually posted this yesterday as a very short drabble-like piece but received no reviews **** so I decided to turn it into a more developed, better story! Hope you have enjoyed it! Thanks for your support and please review!**


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